Thursday, September 25, 2014

Quinn: One Month

My Sweet
Quinn,

You’re one
month old!! How did this happen so
fast? One minute, you were a squishy
little newborn and the next you are our big girl who is growing so much each
day!

I felt like
the first two weeks of your life went by slowly in a way – I would be going
about my business and realize – wow! I had a baby only 12 days ago!The thing is, I felt good and you were doing
so well and it was amazing to think that you had only just been born.There was a bit more of a learning curve when
we had your sister!And that’s the thing
– your birth was such a blessing – we had been waiting on you for so long!But when you were born, life still went
on.Your sister went to school and there
was a schedule to keep up with and dinner to cook and messes to clean up.We didn’t have time for life to stop, but I think
you’ll be better off for that anyway.

You fit into
our family so perfectly. From the minute
you were born, I felt a confidence with you I hadn’t felt last time. I knew how to hold you and feed you and stop
your tears. Sure, I haven’t gotten it
right every moment, and sometimes I just don’t feel like I know what I’m doing,
but this mom thing the second time around is so much easier. And you’ve made it even better by being such
a wonderful baby.

Your first
two weeks, it took a little bit to get you settled to life as an outside baby. We had you sleep in our room in the pack and play, and
every 10 minutes, it seemed, you would wake up and cry out and I would feed you
just to settle you. I was in and out of
bed so frequently, that by one week old, we decided it was time to start a
schedule, both for your sake, and mine! It
took only one night of letting you cry through these little outbursts in your
own bed for you to learn how to settle yourself - really you just cried for about 20 seconds before drifting right back to sleep. After we began in earnest to have you sleep
most naps and all night in your own bed, you did so much better and we felt human again with a bit of
sleep!! And ever since then, you cry
when you’re hungry – and that’s pretty much it. You
haven’t had one time where you were inconsolable or crying for no reason.

You’re on a
2.5-3 hour feeding schedule, depending on what time of day it is. We have your schedule matched up to your
sister’s, so we can take her to school and pick her up, and you both nap at the
same times in the afternoon (yay!). At night, you
can go from a dream feed at 11pm until 4 am, when I have to wake you up to eat
again. Then you sleep until 6:30am, when
I wake you up to eat before the Harper tornado wakes up and I can’t focus
solely on you. You’ve been eating so
well from the beginning, with a sharkbite latch just like your sister
(ow.). Once again I am so grateful to
have a big baby who is a good eater.
That makes life so much easier!

You’re a
smiler!

From about 3 weeks old, you
began socially smiling sometimes when you were wide awake and really focused on
my face. It’s the best! I had no idea it was possible so early, but
you’re doing it! You like to be propped
up on our legs where you can look at our faces.
You get a happy look on your face when we clap your hands or move your
arms around. You’re starting to make eye
contact more and more and even turn to the sound of our voices in a room. You’ll stay awake for about an hour each
time, including your eating time, then it’s back to bed.

You’re really laid back and go with the flow. Harper loves to dote on you, which can
sometimes mean pats that are a little too hard or pokes to the eye, but so far
you’ve been very tolerant. The only
things you seem to not like are being swaddled (I do it anyway) and your car
seat. Just like your sister, you seem to
not like to be pinned down – you like having your arms free to wiggle
away.

You’re
growing! Your face fills out more each
day, and already some of your newborn footed pajamas are too short. You haven’t lost any of your fine, jet black
hair that you were born with, and I love running my cheek across its
softness. You have squishy little cheeks
but your arms and legs are long and skinny.
You have two tiny little red spot birthmarks at the very top of your
little butt. You love to wrap your long
fingers around mine. When you’re waking
up, you stretch and yawn in a way that makes you seem like a tiny little
adult. You snort when you’re hungry and
squeak when you’re in that stage between waking and sleeping.

We love you
so very much already Quinnie. We can’t
wait for you to keep growing and becoming more and more active and alert. Harper is ready for you to come chase
her! But I will relish this newborn
stage. You won’t be in this tiny, sleepy
body much longer, as I now know all too well how fast babies grow up.